» Marine Wildlife



Seahorses disappear from “undesignated” MCZ at Studland Bay, Dorset

The Western Morning News reports, 13th October 2014: “Seahorses have disappeared from breeding grounds at a popular beauty spot in Dorset. Numbers of the native spiny seahorse and short snouted seahorses have dwindled from more than 40 to none in the past eight years. This year, conservationists were devastated to find just one drifting juvenile […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Copepod is “keystone Arctic species” as indicator of climate change

In an article in the October 2014 edition, The National Geographic reports on Franz Josef Land in the Arctic Circle. This archipelago of islands is a nature reserve under Russian law and host to a wide range of Arctic animal species, in particular, the little auk. The National Geographic reports: “The little auk feeds primarily […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Hard coral discovered deep in North Sea

A ten-day Dutch North Sea expedition led by World Wide Fund for Nature ocean expert Chris van Assen has uncovered a type of hard coral (believed to be the Devonshire Cup Coral) on a ship wreck in the Dogger Bank that has never been recorded in these waters before. They also discovered Honeycomb Worms, which […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Are walrus at risk from climate change?

The Guardian reports, 4th October 2014: A mass haul out of 35,000 animals on an Alaska beach doesn’t bode well for the future of wildlife dependent on the Arctic ice. Thirty-five thousand walrus on a beach in Alaska, rolling in filth and the carcasses of their kin, have become the unwitting new poster children for […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

“North Sea now a bare desert but could be restored” say Dutch marine scientists

Nature Netherlands reports, 15th September 2014: “A ten-day research expedition in the North Sea has uncovered the underwater world in a mission to show people and politicians that there is more to the North Sea than previously thought. During the expedition, researchers were also surprised at several new discoveries, De Stentor reports. “We know more […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

The Global Oceans Commission has a Petition addressed to the UN

The Global Ocean Commission is seeking protection under law via the United Nations Law of the Sea (UNCLOSUNCLOS The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea treaty.) for greater protection of the planet’s high seas (the area of the […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Australian Great Barrier Reef may not be subjected to new port’s spoil dumping

The Guardian reports, 6th September 2014: “The deputy premier of Queensland, Jeff Seeney, will put a plan to state cabinet that would reverse the decision to dump sediment from the Abbot Point coal port development on the Great Barrier Reef, disposing of it on land instead, according to a report. Seeney told the Weekend Australian […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Two wholly new and unclassifiable marine species found in Australian seas

The Guardian reports, 4th September 2014: “Two unclassifiable mushroom-shaped creatures have been discovered in the ocean depths off Australia. The strange organisms found could not be placed in any existing phyla, the large families of living things that include vertebrates and flowering plants. The animals, known as Dendrogramma, consist mainly of an outer skin and […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Marine plankton found in Space

The Guardian reports, 21st August 2014: “Sea planktonplankton Plankton is a generic term for a wide variety of the smallest yet most important organisms form that drift in our oceans. They can exist in larger forms of more than 20cm as the larval forms of jellyfish, squid, starfish, sea urchins, etc. and can be algae, […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Whales and dolphins “at risk” from sonic oil prospecting off eastern USA seaboard

The Guardian reports, 19th July 2014: “The Obama administration is reopening the eastern seaboard to offshore oil and gas exploration, approving seismic surveys using sonic cannons that can pinpoint energy deposits deep beneath the ocean floor. The announcement was the first real step towards what could be a transformation in coastal states, creating thousands of […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Scotland’s puffins enjoy a successful breeding season

The Guardian reports: 13th July 2014: “After several poor summers for Scotland’s puffins, the “clowns of the sea” are gearing up to leave the country after a good breeding season, experts have said. Changes to habitat and food brought on by climate change have created difficult conditions for breeding puffins in recent years, but early […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Concern over the protection of the Great Barrier Reef from “port dredging”

The Guardian reports, 11th July 2014: “The amount of money needed to “offset” the impact of a dredging project on the Great Barrier Reef could be as much as $1bn — which is $998m more than the project developer has suggested. Documents obtained under freedom of information reveal huge uncertainty over the investment needed to […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Designated Wildlife Sites damage

The Wildlife Trusts provides the Natural England (NE) report on the surge and flood impacts bringing about overtopping and undermining of numerous designated sites over 2013/2014 at www.wildlifetrusts.org/coastalflooding  Here is an excerpt: The coastal flooding of December, 2013 and early January, 2014 has affected at least 48 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIsSSSI Site of […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Antarctic Emperor penguins need protection in order to avoid risk of extinction

The Guardian reports, 29th June 2014: “The entire population of Antarctica’s famous emperor penguins could fall by a third by the end of the century because of disappearing sea ice, putting them at risk of extinction, say researchers writing in the journal Nature Climate Change. They also called for marine reserves to buffer the fish […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Beach losses threat to Norfolk’s little tern colonies

The Norfolk Coast has long been a return haven every April for nesting Little Terns, with colonies at Great Yarmouth North Dunes and Winterton on the East Coast and at Blakeney National Nature Reserve on the North. These tiny terns are one of the UK’s rarest seabirds, so are protected by RSPB Wardens from disturbance […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Seaweed farming along Norfolk and Suffolk’s coast

On 27th March a conference organised by Norfolk County Council, The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) and the North Sea Marine Cluster entitled ‘Growing a Seaweed Economy in East Anglia’ was held at the King’s Centre, Norwich, which brought seaweed experts from The Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and many parts of […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Marine Biological Association is granted a Royal Charter

National Biodiversitybiodiversity Biological diversity in an environment as indicated by numbers of different species of plants and animals. Network (NBN) News, March 2014, reports: “All life on Earth depends on the ocean. The question that is underlying much research into life in the seas is how they can satisfy mankind’s demands for resources whilst continuing […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Blakeney NNR future in question

Those of you who have visited the National Trusts Blakeney National Nature Reserve on the North Norfolk coast will realise how precious it is (or perhaps now ‘was’) as a wildlife and faunalfauna The animals characteristic of a region, period, or special environment habitat. Sadly the severe North Sea tidal surge of Thursday 5th December […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Large fish have disappeared from vast tracts of Australian coast

From The Guardian 21st February 2014: Vast tracts of Australia’s coastline have been denuded of large fish, with marine life under pressure from climate change, over-fishing, pollution and invasive species, a year-long study has found. The reef life survey, undertaken by volunteer divers along the entire Australian coastline, took in reefs up to 400 nautical […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Magellanic and Adelie penguins experiencing pressure “due to climate change”

The Guardian reports, 30th January 2014: “Penguins are in peril because of extreme environmental conditions linked to climate change, research has shown. Two new studies highlight the plight of penguin colonies trying to cope with the effects of global warming in Argentina and Antarctica. At both locations, the beguiling birds face an uncertain future. Climate […]

Please do share this

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS